Category: Marco Rubio

From Marco Rubio to Herman Cain: How the Crist Factor Hurt Perry in Florida

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Marco Rubio and Sarah Rumpf

Sarah Rumpf helped facilitate Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon’s endorsement of Herman Cain, which in turn helped Cain score his crushing upset of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in Saturday’s Orlando “Presidency5” straw poll. Today, I spoke at length with “Sunshine State Sarah” to get the backstory of that endorsement, and she pointed out a little-noticed aspect of Perry’s humiliating defeat.

“Perry hired a lot of the Charlie Crist people,” she said, referring to former aides to the permatanned ex-RINO governor who got crushed in last year’s Tea Party uprising that sent Marco Rubio to the Senate. Among the Perry campaign’s top Florida hires, only Anthony Bustamante — who is “awesome,” Sarah said — was a known ally of Rubio.

While many of Crist’s ex-staffers were innocent victims of their boss’s stunning betrayal of the GOP, some of them — including some hired by Team Perry — were suspected as dirty tricksters. The Crist association gave a slight tinge of RINO-ism to the Perry campaign, undermining the Texan’s desired image as a solid conservative. So when Perry accused opponents of illegal immigration of being heartless, it stirred bitter memories of Crist’s “centrist” ways among those who had fought hard to elect Rubio.

Rumpf held one of the first Orlando-area fundraisers for Rubio’s campaign, and Plakon was also an early Rubio supporter. Both Rumpf and Plakon are backing Rubio ally Adam Hasner in the 2012 GOP Senate primary to take on Democrat Bill Nelson. It was during a Friday forum for the Republican Senate candidates that Plakon mentioned his idea of endorsing Herman Cain.

Rumpf was sitting with Plakon and his wife Susie (who has been a Cain fan for months), and Rumpf offered to connect Plakon with Cain’s campaign staff. Rumpf used Twitter to contact Cain spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael in Atlanta, Carmichael gave Rumpf the phone numbers of Cain’s staffers in Orlando, including Nathan Naidu. That evening about 7 p.m., a private meeting was arranged between Cain and the Plakons, and the endorsement was announced at a jam-packed rally of Cain supporters at the Rosen Centre Hotel. Here’s Sarah’s video, recorded just before the endorsement was made public:

The impact of this endorsement should not be underestimated. He may not be well known (yet) outside the state of Florida, but he is extremely well-liked here and very active in conservative political causes around the state. Americans for Prosperity’s Florida Chapter named him their 2011 State Representative of the Year, and has been a leader in opposing ObamaCare, sponsoring the Florida Health Care Freedom Act. Scott Plakon is a solid fiscal and social conservative and has owned and operated several successful businesses; he is the exact type of state leader Republican presidential candidates should want on their team.

Plakon’s endorsement was an enormous boost for Cain on the eve of the straw-poll, and helped convince Florida Republicans that Cain is a legitimate presidential contender.

After the 2010 campaign, when state party chairman Jim Greer and NRSC chairman John Cornyn connived to “fix” the race for Crist 15 months before the GOP primary, rank-and-file Republicans in Florida have become sick and tired of being told to “get in line,” Sarah told me.

As for the meaning of Cain’s victory in the Orlando straw poll, Sarah said, “This was not a protest vote. This was not a temper tantrum.”

When I asked her about one interpretation that Beltway pundits have made of the Orlando results, Sarah was adamant: “Nobody was talking about Chris Christie — nobody.”

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Bill Kristol.

PREVIOUSLY:


Two Words: ‘Bench Strength’

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Many conservatives were disappointed when Paul Ryan declined to run for president in 2012, and many conservatives — among them Joy McCann at The Conservatory — have raved almost deliriously about Marco Rubio’s speech at the Reagan Library:

I’ve been supporting Marco Rubio, of course, since before I knew who Marco Rubio was. The day “those treacherous bastards” at the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist (May 12, 2009, a day that will live in infamy) I went all-in for Marco, who at that point was trailing Crist by 35 points in the polls. And it was the video of Marco’s farewell speech to the Florida House that inspired me to write: “[E]verybody who has seen this video is asking the same question: Why in the world would John Cornyn and the NRSC back Charlie Crist against this guy?” Continue reading Two Words: ‘Bench Strength’ →

Not Just No, But Hell, No! John Cornyn Uncontested in Bid for NRSC Chair?

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Somebody hasn’t been paying attention:

Sen. John Cornyn is expected Tuesday to formally make a bid for another two years as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
GOP sources confirm to CNN that the Texas Republican will put his name up for nomination for re-election as NRSC chairman, as the Senate Republican Conference meets behind closed doors. According to the sources, the two-term senator is not expected to face any opposition in his bid to remain as NRSC chairman, and has already secured the support of a number of new Republican Senators, including Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

Are you freaking kidding me? Marco Rubio supporting that treacherous bastard who tried to put the fix in for Charlie Crist? And guess who’s playing kissy-face?

Sen. Lisa Murkowski received a warm welcome from fellow Senators on the Senate floor Monday and congratulations from National Republican Senate Campaign Chairman John Cornyn.

We’ll see about this . . .

‘The Demagogic Bloggers on the Right’

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Frequent commenter “Joe” calls our attention to Patterico’s dig at Jeff Goldstein (and unnamed others) in which the prosecutor endeavors to play the Instapundit card:

Now that Glenn has said the same thing the “pragmatic” conservatives are saying, will the blogospheric demagogues who seek out Mark Levin’s favor put Glenn Reynolds on the list of “pragmatic” conservatives whom they bash on a regular basis?
I boldly predict they will not. They need his traffic. So, even if he’s saying the exact same thing as I am, they won’t bash Instapundit.
The demagogic bloggers on the right are happy to be pure when it comes to the fate of the country. But when it comes to their own self-interest, I suspect they will be a little more . . . pragmatic.

This is absurd. Professor Reynolds did not say “the same thing the ‘pragmatic’ conservatives are saying.” Professor Reynolds has been an out-front supporter of the Tea Party movement from Day One — which is certainly not what any soi-dissant “pragmatic” conservatives have ever said, or are saying now, or are ever likely to say in the future.

In reacting to Professor Reynolds’ supposed endorsement of “pragmatism” (the word, as Patterico uses it, demands scare-quotes), I said: “Busting the balls of the Establishment is a process not an event.”

This was not merely a joke. Continue reading ‘The Demagogic Bloggers on the Right’ →

Just Requested Media Credentials for the Marco Rubio Victory Party in Miami

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Me and every other freaking reporter on the planet:

Perhaps the most sought-after press credential in the country on Nov. 2: Republican Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio’s party at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
As of yesterday, the campaign had received requests from 232 media outlets. That includes 35 television cameras (of which 17 are from Florida) , network crews from NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, the BBC, NPR, Univision and Al Arabiya, and 75 members of the foreign press — radio reporters from the Czech Republic, West Africa, China;  TV crews from The Congo, Columbia, Japan, France, Spain; and  print reporters from Germany, New Zealand, Argentina and the UK.
To say Rubio has come a long way is a massive understatement. . . .

Indeed. In the first poll taken after “those treacherous bastards” at the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist in May 2009, Marco Rubio trailed by more than 30 points. 

Professor William Jacobson gives credit to the “Not One Red Cent” rebellion against the GOP Establishment. I’ve told the story behind that rebellion at Hot Air Green Room:

We were standing outside the Continental Lounge in Rosslyn, Va., while the young Republican operative explained it to me.
“All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don’t care how they get there,” said the operative. “They don’t want to spend any money, so they were looking for a self-funder.”
“They” are Republican senators, and what my friend was explaining was the otherwise inexplicable decision of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to endorse Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race — 15 months before the primary!
As soon as this news hit the Internet on Tuesday, the outright stupidity of the NRSC and its chairman, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, became the No. 1 topic of conversation among conservative activists, including the journalists, bloggers and GOP operatives who gathered for Thursday night’s cocktail party at the Continental in Rosslyn, just across the Potomac River from Georgetown.

The uprising of conservatives for Rubio has been one of the most inspiring political stories of recent years. Here in my cheap hotel, I just saw a TV ad in which Charlie Crist denounces Marco as “extreme.” Charlie doesn’t get it. He’s toast.

Anyway, I just interviewed a staffer for Steve Southerland, the GOP candidate here in Florida’s 2nd District. They’re feeling pretty confident they’ll defeat Allen Boyd tomorrow. But I just saw a DCCC TV ad distorting Southerland’s support for the Fair Tax, so “don’t get cocky.”)

It’s 592 miles to Miami. I want to stop by and see Allen West on the way. Please hit the tip jar.

After Squandering $12 Million in Campaign Cash, Charlie Crist Is Now Reduced to Role of Debate ‘Heckler’

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Yeah, everybody and his dog has already posted that video, but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to point out how completely Charlie Crist has screwed himself and the GOP Establishment.

Less than 18 months ago, when Genius John Cornyn and the NRSC endorsed Crist — “Those treacherous bastards!” — polls showed Crist leading Rubio by more than 30 points. And while the grassroots rallied to Rubio, a lot of the Republican “smart money” went to Crist. It was not until January, after Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, that we saw the first poll showing Rubio ahead. By mid-February, after his rousing CPAC speech, Rubio was ahead by double digits and by the end of April, Crist quit the GOP.

Before he quit, however, Crist had managed to hoover up a crapload of that Republican “smart money.” By the end of 2009, Crist had raised nearly $9 million.

Now? Charlie Crist’s campaign is nearly broke — “running on fumes,” as the St. Petersburg Times reported last week. By the end of September, he had burned through nearly $12 million and had $1.4 million left for the 33-day home stretch of the campaign, while Rubio reported more than $5 million cash on hand.

Rubio is leading by double digits in the polls now and it is possible that Crist’s support could further deteriorate so that Sorry Charlie finishes third behind Democrat Kendrick Meek.

Twelve million dollars. Man, that “smart money” sure was dumb.

MARCO RUBIO for U.S. SENATE

Is Jillian Bandes Stalking Marco Rubio?

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The intrepid Townhall reporter is following him all over Florida while singing silly love songs in her car:

We can forgive Jillian if she seems a wee bit obsessed. Marco had us at “hello,” and few developments of the mid-term campaign are more encouraging for conservatives than the success of Rubio, who inspired the “Not One Red Cent” uprising against the GOP Establishment. He’s leading all the polls — including an 8-point lead over RINO-No-More Charlie Crist in the latest Suffolk poll and 11 points in Rasmussen — and now the best Charlie can do is lash out at Marco as an “extreme right-wing candidate” and demagogue on Social Security.

Charlie’s learning that, as Ed Morrissey points out, desperation is not an aphrodisiac — which is why there are no reporters following Charlie around singing “Always Something There to Remind Me.”

UPDATE: Jillian also brings us good news from Florida’ 2nd District in the Panhandle, where Republican Steve Southerland finally appears to be gaining traction against Blue Dog Democrat Allen Boyd. Here’s an ad from Southerland:

And here’s an ad from the NRCC slamming Boyd:

An Americans for Prosperity ad slamming Boyd:

Here’s a heart-warming ad from Steve’s wife (and first-grade sweetheart) Susan:

You should go give Steve Southerland $20 now.